The Supplies - Part 1

"So, what are you planning to buy."

"I'm not sure yet. I know that I need a tent and a bedroll, so I've got somewhere to sleep when out and about. I have a waterskin and some food, although I should probably look to see what food you would use for camping, as the fruit I have will probably rot after a while. Other than that, I'm not sure."

"Well, most of that should come from the general store, they have all manner of things and should have camping supplies. Shall we head there first?"

After Octavia agreed, she let Sylvia take the lead, as the short tour they had before wasn't enough to secure the layout of the town in her mind. As they walked, while she was still able to carry on with the conversation as normal, Octavia could see that Sylvia was still rattling something around in her head. She wanted to help with whatever it was, but given how she responded at breakfast, it may be best to just let Sylvia come to her when she is ready.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw a few guards following them, giving them a small amount of space. It was likely that now that the Lord knew her, these guards were actually here for protection, rather than to keep an eye on her.

As they passed through the town, there were still many gawking citizens. Like before some held others back both to keep them away from her and some to keep them from getting close out of curiosity.

This was an annoying sight for Octavia, as for some, she knew they saw her as some sort of monster that might just hurt them out of nowhere.

This was thankfully counteracted by some of the more courageous citizens, who felt no fear of the new arrival and just wanted to find out more about her.

This could be seen with quite a few different people of varying ages. With their boldness and directness, people started to come up to her to start a conversation. It started with a few children that were playing in the street, who, once spotted her, charged in her direction. Bold as they were, they threw all manner of questions at her.

"Whoa. Why do you look so strange?"

"What are you?"

"Where did you come from?"

"Do you eat people?"

"What's that stick on your back?"

"Why do you have a tail?"

The children crowded around, circling her as they voiced their questions.

Octavia answered them as best she could, of which she quickly stated a "No!" for the question on whether she ate people. After a while, the curiosity of the children built up further and they could control themselves no longer.

From the look in their eyes, Octavia and Sylvia could tell that they needed to touch her tail.

As she answered more and more questions, she eventually felt similar feelings to when she was in the carriage. Quickly turning back, she saw three of the children, knelt down and stroking all along her tail.

"Wh-what are you doing?" She replied embarrassed of the position she now found herself in.

"It's hard but smooth at the same time."

"It's also cold. This feels so strange."

Her question garnered no attention from the children, who were thoroughly engrossed in touching her tail. More of the children from the front also journey to the back to get a feel.

"H-Hey! Stop that!" she cried out. Yet, like before, it fell on deaf ears. The only way she could think to deal with them now was to buck her tail away from them, but that may end up causing the children harm.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the guards start to move closer, seeing that Octavia was in distress, but they ended up stopping after a short while into their movements.

Not sure what had happened, she turned to her friend hoping for some assistance but was met by the childish grin of a girl who found the whole thing hilarious. She also had her hand held out in the direction of the guards halting them to stop them from intervening. They were just children after all, and why would she want to stop this funny situation.

"I don't suppose you're going to help me with this are you?"

"No. It's too funny."

"What a great friend you are. Just you wait, one of these days you will find yourself in a situation just like this and I am going to let you suffer while I laugh my ass off." She thought to herself, setting her revenge plan in motion.

While she received no help from her friend, she didn't have to suffer through the odd sensations for long. Now that people saw she was actually quite friendly, many of them stopped moving away from her. This also helped the parents of the kids who called them back, not out of fear, but out of an understanding of the difficult position Octavia was in.

Many were recalled back to their parents, and some just ended up losing interest, freeing Octavia's tail to move again.

This though only lasted so long, as with her friendly demeanour known, more and more people came to her.

…

"I'm exhausted."

"So am I."

"How are you exhausted. All you did was stand next to me and laugh all day."

"I know. I've never laughed so much in my life. It was exhausting."

Both Octavia and Sylvia were sitting on a short wall near the shops they were planning to go to, hunched backwards from all that had happened.

It felt like the whole of the town had come to meet and find out about her. She had to answer the same questions many times over and endure strokes of her tail from several groups of children, as well as even a few adults.

Thankfully, no one had tried anything problematic with them, so the guards had no reason to intervene at all so far.

The whole experience though had tired her out, and they had only just reached the shops. They still had the whole day left.

Sylvia on the other hand was also questioned a few times. It would seem that while she was a noble, being a visiting one, not many people outside of the castle knew of her. Due to this, the citizens felt no reason to hold back on finding out about both of them. Although Octavia was still the more interesting subject in the town.

This also didn't seem to bother Sylvia, who was more than happy to talk to everyone, even going so far as to not mention that she was noble, to keep the conversation going, as doing so would probably freeze them up. This was also probably for protection as well.

Some people did see the guards following them, which caused some fear, but a few statements telling them that they were to protect her, given how new she was to the town, easily brought the good mood back.

With all of the tail touching and questions, Sylvia thoroughly enjoyed herself, especially when seeing Octavia dealing with the children and responding to questions, some of which were very strange.

This was the same to Octavia, as although it was tiring and embarrassing, she did get to meet many people. She now also knew that it wouldn't be long before she was no longer seen as a possible threat to the town, which would definitely make her feel better.

…

Having rested on the wall for a while, they were finally able to continue with their shopping trip.

They travelled out into what Octavia would practically call a shopping district, where she saw a large open area in the town that was surrounded on all sides by various shops.

"Here we have the main market area. There are shops dotted around in other areas of the town as I showed you before, but this is the main place that people go to for food and other items. Also, markets from other towns are set up in this area on occasion."

After Sylvia's explanation, they got started with checking out the shops. As they travelled, a few of the shops had similar symbols to the few she had seen on her tour. From the symbols the shops signs held, she was able to spot a few butchers, grocers, blacksmiths and the general stores.

There were a few that she had to ask Sylvia about, where one had an image of a stool, which she learnt meant it was a shop that sold furniture.

As they travelled, more and more shops revealed themselves. There were clothing stores, a cobbler, a tanner, a hunting store and taverns. The one that intrigued Octavia the most was the apothecary.

It was a small shop towards the back, with a bottle on its sign. While not intriguing in its own right, the image made her think of the two bottles of green liquid she still had. If there was any place that could tell her what the green liquid was, it was the apothecary.

…

Following on with their initial plan, they decided to visit the general store first. The apothecary would still be there later and the gear she needed for her travels was more important.

As they entered, Octavia saw that it was filled with people. As far as she could see, this shop was larger than the others, based on the size of the shop fronts, but it was still not enough for all the people present.

It was also filled to the brim with anything and everything. It had all manner of odds and ends that didn't really belong in other shops. It showed off a variety of bags from over the shoulder to ones you carry, all being made of various materials. There were jars, cups and goblets of various shapes and sizes, plates, bowls and cutlery were also strewn about for people to choose from. There was also parchment, ink and quills, candles, and various metal Knick knacks along with the camping gear that Octavia needed, which were just a few of the items for sale.

As they entered, Octavia was expecting a bell to ring overhead, but this did not happen. What did happen though, was that while their entrance was not followed by a bell to signal it, her entrance did catch the eye of one person. This then turned into a couple, then several, ending with the whole shop stopping what they were doing to see the newcomer in the shop.

It was clear that she had not met any of these people on the street earlier today.

All eyes were on her, which was no different than when she had to traverse the streets. What was different though, was that Octavia now had to figure out how to navigate close quarters winding pathway of stands showing off goods, as well as the frozen consumers. How she would get through this tight and twisting maze with her overly large and long tail was anyone's guess.